United States
300 Big-City US Mayors Meet to Curb Gun Trafficking, Push Microstamping
New York Sun
11 Apr 2008
WASHINGTON -- Mayor Bloomberg is gearing up for the third annual Washington summit of his coalition against illegal guns, a group that now includes more than 300 mayors nationwide along with county executives and state legislators. The coalition is looking to expand its issue agenda and will push for enhancing the federal background check system to keep criminals and the mentally ill from buying guns. The meeting on Monday will come two days before the first anniversary of the massacre at Virginia Tech, where a mentally unstable student shot 32 people and killed himself in the deadliest school shooting in American history. Other topics that are likely... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Angry, Paranoid, 'Mentally Incompetent' US Man Claims Legal Right to AK-47
Concord Monitor (New Hampshire)
11 Apr 2008
Scott Buchanan has written angry, aggressive and paranoid accounts of his real or imagined dealings with the police, and in 2005 he was found incompetent to stand trial on criminal charges, according to court records. But that doesn't make him too dangerous to own guns, two mental health experts told a judge yesterday. "It was anxiety-producing that he had these views and that he had these guns," said Dr. James Adams, the state's chief forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Buchanan. "I understand people would be anxious about that. But I couldn't conclude that that reached the level of dangerousness." Buchanan, 36, of Maine has been trying to reclaim his... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Canada's Tories Extend Amnesty for Gun Owners, Undermine Registry
Telegraph Journal (New Brunswick) / Canadaeast News
11 Apr 2008
OTTAWA -- The federal Conservatives have served notice that they intend to continue providing amnesty to long-gun owners whose rifles and shotguns are not registered. The reprieve hinges on a review of the current amnesty program, which expires May 16. Canadian firearm officers -- the administrators responsible for licences and authorizations in the provinces -- and RCMP are currently conducting the review. They are expected to report their findings to the government prior to the end of the amnesty period. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced in 2006 that government would waive application fees for licences until 2008 and... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Clinton Vows Assault Weapon Ban, Overturn of Gun Trafficking Secrecy Bill
Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania)
11 Apr 2008
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton is to announce in West Philadelphia today a crime-fighting plan that she boldly says will halve homicide rates in cities over five years. Clinton will unveil the plan -- "Solutions for Safe and Secure Communities Now" -- at the Westside YMCA, 51st and Chestnut streets. Mayor Nutter will be at her side. "We wanted to deliver the speech in a place where people need to know help is on the way," said Clinton spokesman Mark Nevins. In the detailed policy paper, provided yesterday to the Daily News, Clinton promises to put 100,000 more cops on the streets, create a $1 billion grant program to fight recidivism, and provide more funds... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Fear Prompts 60 Percent Increase in Virginians Packing Hidden Handguns
Associated Press
11 Apr 2008
RICHMOND, Virginia -- Doug and Cheryl Camden were raised around guns but agreed not to keep them in their house after they got married and began raising five children of their own. Then violent crime began to dominate daily news reports. Several businesses near their Chester restaurant were robbed, home invasions seemed to increase and the world just seemed to be getting much more dangerous. "It's to the point where you can't walk through the park without getting attacked," Doug Camden said Friday. So the Camdens are following the path taken by a sharply increasing number of Virginians: They're applying for concealed weapons permits so they... ( gunpolicy.org )
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Former Soviet States Plan Database of Gun Runners, Illicit Arms Dealers
BBC Monitoring Service / Interfax, Transcript
11 Apr 2008
A joint CIS database of transnational criminal groups involved in illegal arms trafficking will be created, the press service of the Minsk-based CIS Executive Committee has told Interfax. "This is stipulated by a draft agreement on cooperation in combating the illegal manufacturing and sale of firearms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices, which has been discussed by the committee's expert group," the press service said. Chief of the committee's anti-crime division Anatoliy Bekeshchenko noted that the future database would store information about all criminal groups operating in the CIS. "This will facilitate the prevention and unravelling... ( gunpolicy.org )
Canada
Judge Tells Violent Sexual Offender 'No Legal Right to Bear Arms' in Canada
Fredericton Daily Gleaner (New Brunswick)
11 Apr 2008
A judge has upheld a chief firearms officer's decision to revoke a gun licence from a Woodstock-area sex offender with a history of violence. Richard Herbert Foster, 62, fought the licence revocation in Woodstock provincial court, but Judge Andrew LeMesurier agreed with the province's chief firearms officer. In a written decision April 3, the judge noted that Foster had a history of violence and that he lied about his criminal record when he originally applied for a firearms licence in December 2000. LeMesurier ruled that the firearms officer was justified in revoking the licence. Foster's criminal convictions include: - Sept.... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
New York Retailer Faces $800k Fine for Selling Imitation Guns - Again
Newsday (New York)
11 Apr 2008
NEW YORK -- A retailer that once paid a sizable fine for selling toy guns that looked too real has been accused of peddling hundreds of the forbidden fakes in New York City again. The City Department of Consumer Affairs says inspectors found more than 800 dark-colored, genuine-looking phony firearms in Party City stores since the fall. City law requires fake guns to be brightly colored to help police officers and others tell them apart from real ones. Party City spokesman Bill Furtkevic says the store chain "emphatically denies" the allegations and is diligent about complying with all laws. Party City paid a $150,000 fine in 2003 for selling... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Philadelphia Gun Laws Defy State Legislature, As Did US Colonists v British
Pocono Record (Pennsylvania) / AP
11 Apr 2008
PHILADELPHIA -- Mayor Michael Nutter signed five new gun-control laws that defy the state Legislature and legal precedent, comparing the action to the stand early colonists took against the British monarchy. "Almost 232 years ago, a group of concerned Americans took matters in their own hands and did what they needed to do by declaring that the time had come for a change," Nutter said Thursday. "We are going to make ourselves independent of the violence that's been taking place in this city for far too long." Among other restrictions, the bills would limit handgun purchases to one a month; require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within... ( gunpolicy.org )
United States
Teen Boys Stole Handguns from Iowa Gun Show Stand, Home Burglary
Cedar Rapids Gazette (Iowa)
11 Apr 2008
CEDAR RAPIDS -- Additional charges have been filed against two Iowa City teenagers accused of stealing guns from a gun show at Hawkeye Downs in January. Tyler H. Carter, 17, of 2065 Little Creek Lane, and Ethan S. Johnston, 18, of 2889 IWV Rd. SW, are now facing charges in both Linn and Johnson counties of trafficking in stolen weapons, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine ranging from $750 to $7,500. The teens are accused of possessing handguns reported stolen from the gun show and a handgun reported stolen in a Muscatine County burglary. One of the weapons Carter had was a .45-caliber handgun, while one of Johnston's... ( gunpolicy.org )
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